Robber guilty of ‘nightmarish' kidnapping

A jury found a man guilty of kidnapping and robbery charges after he was accused of hiding in a woman's backseat, putting a gun to her head and threatening her life as she drove home.

Katie UrbaszewskiStaff Writer

A jury found a man guilty of kidnapping and robbery charges after he was accused of hiding in a woman's backseat, putting a gun to her head and threatening her life as she drove home.In the early morning hours of Dec. 2, 2011, Terrance Carvin, 24, of Houma, was hiding in the backseat of a Honda Civic driven by a woman who worked at Rickochet Billiards in downtown Houma, prosecutors said. After she finished a phone conversation while driving, he jumped up wearing a black ski mask, put a gun to her head and asked her if she wanted to live or die.The guilty verdict “was a good way to bring closure,” Assistant District Attorney Jason Dagate said. “It was a really nightmarish situation for the victim involved. This case is every man, woman and child's nightmare. You get in the back of a car at night, and somebody's waiting with a gun.”Carvin ordered the woman to several ATMs and forced her to call her boss and make up a story so he would open the bar for Carvin to rob, prosecutors said.At one point during the drive, Carvin climbed from the back seat to the front seat and took off his mask as they drove past police officers, prosecutors said. This helped the victim later identify him.The woman was not able to get any money from her accounts, so Carvin told her to drive back to the bar, Houma Police said. When the woman parked the car, she ran back into the bar and locked the doors. Carvin then ran away.Carvin was arrested the next month when his girlfriend Pearl Stoufflet contacted the victim because she found her employment application in Carvin's belongings and thought he was cheating, prosecutors said.“The victim, who had never met Terrance Carvin or Pearl Stoufflet, did her own search for Carvin on Facebook and immediately recognized him as the assailant,” the Terrebonne Parish District Attorney's Office said in a statement.At the time of his arrest, Carvin had just been shot by Jujuan Wilkerson and was being treated at Terrebonne General Medical Center, Houma Police said. Carvin was originally charged with aggravated kidnapping, which calls for a mandatory life sentence, when Terrebonne sheriff's deputies arrested him. But the jury found him guilty of what the District Attorney's Office ultimately charged him with — second-degree kidnapping and armed robbery, Dagate said.Judge David Arceneaux will sentence Carvin at a later unspecified date, Dagate said.An armed robbery conviction can result in 10 to 99 years in prison, and second-degree kidnapping carries a sentence between five and 40 years in prison. However, Dagate said his office intends to charge Carvin as a habitual offender, which would translate to a minimum sentence of 69.5 years.Carvin's attorney, New Orleans-based Heather Hendrix, could not be reached for comment.The jury reached a verdict Thursday after a three-day trial.

Staff Writer Katie Urbaszewski can be reached at 448-7617 or katie.urbaszewski@dailycomet.com.

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